Keep the Halloween secret!
by yaoifangirlHolly
Summary: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I’d do it now since it’s half term next week so I’ll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story and varies from scary to silly
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters.**

**Story: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I'd do it now since it's half term next week so I'll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story based on a Halloween themed word and will vary from scary to silly. Enjoy!**

SPIDER

Morgana twisted restlessly on her bed, her eyelids closed, but twitching with fear. Another nightmare. Spiders, hundreds of them, a black mass, were crawling onto her bed, up her legs and body, a scurry of many long legs and beady eyes. They were getting bigger and bigger, pinning her body down, moving into her raven black hair and over her skin, creeping and crawling and unpleasant to touch. Her mouth opened to scream and the largest of them began to crawl into her mouth, down her throat, suffocating her.

Morgana bolted up in her bed, a scream already escaping her as her eyes snapped open. Panting, she gazed around, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of her room. Her breathing was beginning to return to normal, but the fear she had felt in her dream still clung to her, lingering.

The door opened, and Guinevere rushed in. "My lady, are you alright?"

Morgana took a breath. "Just another, bad dream, Gwen," she said, surprised at the shakiness of her voice. Guinevere sat on her bed beside her, and took her hand to comfort her with a gentle smile.

"I've got just the thing to make you feel better, my lady." She stood up, left the room, and returned with a large box. She took off the lid, revealing a tarantula, eight giant beaded eyes, and disgustingly long hairy legs.

Morgana screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters.**

**Story: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I'd do it now since it's half term next week so I'll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story based on a Halloween themed word and will vary from scary to silly. Enjoy!**

PUMPKIN

Arthur had managed to persuade Uther to hold a party for Halloween, and the afternoon was being spent putting up decorations in the Royal Court room – Merlin, Morgana and Gwen were decorating, and Arthur was "overseeing" the process, which Merlin had decided meant "stand around doing nothing while telling everyone else what to do".

"I don't know why you wanted this party so much anyway Morgana," he commented as the other three were proceeding to tie pumpkin decorations to the walls and hang them off lanterns. "Halloween seems like such a pointless celebration."

"I think you're just embarrassed that someone will scare you out of your wits and embarrass you in front of all your knights, Arthur," Morgana teased, exchanging a smile with Gwen. Arthur caught Merlin stifling a snicker.

"Well we all know why Merlin loves Halloween so much," he began, wiping the grin off Merlin's face. "It's because he's a pumpkin head." With his trademark smirk, he picked up the pumpkin on the table beside him. "See? Tough on the outside – " he rapped the pumpkin, "but all soft and mushy on the inside when it comes to brains." He shoved the pumpkin into Merlin's arms. "Now why don't you make yourself useful and carve this? And Merlin – try to make it look scary?"

With a thoroughly trodden on expression, Merlin took the pumpkin over to a table and sat down.

"You are so mean to him," Morgana said, laughing in disbelief. "If I didn't know you better, Arthur Pendragon, I'd say that was your mixed up way of flirting with him..."

"Well...luckily you do know better then, isn't it, Morgana?" Arthur replied coolly, but gave away his desire to change the subject by picking up decorations to stick to the wall, something he hadn't done at all until that moment.

The party was to begin at night and soon the place was milling with people, all dressed in either red, black, orange or purple as the invitations had requested. Morgana wore her usual purple, but Gwen amazed everyone with her beauty in a pretty scarlet gown, and was asked to dance almost immediately by Lancelot.

Even Arthur surprised Morgana. She was stood helping herself to some punch when she saw Uther approach Arthur out of the corner of her eye.

"Well done Arthur! This has been a success indeed," Uther said proudly, patting his son on the shoulder.

Morgana waited to hear Arthur's reply and was shocked to hear him say "Thank you father, but it was Morgana, her maidservant, and my servant who did most of the work."

"Well, then you must tell them of my appreciation," Uther said, and walked away.

By this point, Morgana had turned to gaze at Arthur, attempting to gauge his facial expression. Unable to help herself, she impulsively walked over.

"I overheard what you said to Uther," she said. "I wouldn't have expected you to admit that to him."

"Morgana," Arthur sighed. "You may think a lot of things about me, but I would never take credit for someone else's work." He glanced over to see that most of the people in the room were now dancing. Morgana followed his gaze, and deciding to change the subject, said – "It might look bad if the Crown Prince is the only one not dancing you know."

"You're right," Arthur murmured, then walked over to somewhere over the other side of the room.

Morgana was just about to head back over to get the punch she had been about to have before when she saw a slightly flushed, and very happy Gwen walking over towards her.

"I see Lancelot asked you to dance," she smiled, betraying her happiness for her maidservant.

"We were...talking about Halloween," Gwen began self consciously, and I was asking him if he felt scared around this time of the year, and he said...that he would never be scared if I was by his side..." She lowered her gaze as her cheeks became pink, and Morgana glanced over to where Lancelot stood, talking to a knight. He too, seemed to be emanating a residual happiness that had come from being with Gwen.

"It sounds like...he loves you very much," she said.

"He did ask if he could dance with me again later," Gwen replied.

"And he hasn't danced with any other woman," Morgana pointed out.

Gwen gasped, and grabbed Morgana's arm. "My lady – look!" Morgana followed her wide eyes over to where everyone was dancing.

"I don't see –" she began, but trailed off as she saw what Gwen saw.

Arthur and Merlin were dancing together. Evidently they had not been doing for long, as other people were beginning to notice and stop dancing themselves. Murmurings were beginning all over the room. King Uther stormed over, wrenched Arthur off with his arm, and demanded to know what was going on.

"I'm teaching Merlin how to dance, father. He's terribly useless at it you know, a real...pumpkin head." Arthur was slurring his words slightly and Morgana cringed. He was drunk. He hadn't seemed it when she'd been talking to him earlier, though he had been unusually honest.

Uther stormed off, not wanting to acknowledge that his son was drunk in front of the entire party. Morgana also realised from the sheepish expression on Merlin's face as Arthur commanded him to keep dancing, that he had probably been coerced into it in the first place. Though he was blushing, and happy, and he wasn't drunk. Maybe he liked Arthur too.

The party went on, and Morgana helped herself to some punch, deciding to go easy on it if it was what had inebriated Arthur. She danced with Gaius, then with some of the knights, flirting a little. She also watched Gwen and Lancelot dance again, and decided they had to be the sweetest couple in the room.

But of course, the party had to end eventfully, or it wouldn't be a party, Morgana supposed, as she heard a collective gasp from everyone, and turned to its source, which was Arthur kissing Merlin in the middle of the room. It was evident that Merlin was extremely embarrassed by Arthur's behaviour, but he didn't push him off, even though he knew Uther could see them, which led Morgana to conclude that Merlin definitely did reciprocate Arthur's feelings. She sent a panicked look Gwen's way, and Lancelot, ever chivalrous, stepped over to lead a drunken Arthur out of the room, Merlin helping, and shooting extremely grateful looks at Lancelot whilst studiously avoiding Uther's stare.

"Look! Ssss's....a bat," Arthur slurred, waving a paper bat in the air as Lancelot and Merlin helped him onto the bed. He was asleep in minutes.

"He's going to be very embarrassed tomorrow," Merlin said self consciously.

"Do you like him too, Merlin?" Lancelot asked.

Merlin paused, and sighed, ruffling his hair with his hand. His face was still red. "Is it that obvious?" He said at last, with a small laugh.

"I am not here to judge," Lancelot smiled, as they both glanced down at the sleeping Arthur. "You are my friend Merlin. In fact, there is something I wish to tell you, if you can keep a secret."

"Well, you know I'm pretty good at keeping secrets," Merlin smiled, and Lancelot laughed as he realised what Merlin meant.

"Oh yes, that is true. Well, I have been thinking of asking Guinevere to marry me."

Merlin's mouth fell open in a smile. "Are you – are you serious?" He broke into laughter. "Lancelot, that's amazing! I know she'll say yes!"

Arthur stirred, and murmured in his sleep "Happy Hallo...ween."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters.**

**Story: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I'd do it now since it's half term next week so I'll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story based on a Halloween themed word and will vary from scary to silly. Enjoy!**

GHOST

"Merlin! Merlin!"

"Huh? Nhh?"

"Sssh!"

Merlin drowsily sat up in his bed, and saw Arthur Pendragon at the foot of it, the moonlight shining through his window onto the prince's muscular frame.

"Arthur?" he murmured in a half asleep tone, incredulity in his voice as he wondered if he was dreaming. "Wh-hat time is it?"

"Get up," Arthur indicated, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Gaius. "We're going hunting."

As he was putting on warmer clothes and shoes, Merlin did ask Arthur several times why they were going hunting in the middle of the night, but Arthur evaded his questions, and it wasn't until they were actually outside in the cool night air, heading towards the woods, that Merlin's brain began to wake up and he realised how absurd things were.

"Arthur, I'm not walking another step until you tell me why we're going hunting in the middle of the night. You don't even hunt any nocturnal animals anyway," Merlin cried. "You didn't even bring any hunting gear, what, are you going to just attack the creatures with your bare hands?"

Arthur sighed. "You want to know the truth, Merlin?" He had walked back up to him, his blonde hair shining in the midnight light of the moon and stars.

Then he just bent and kissed Merlin. It only lasted for a second or two but it certainly woke Merlin up. When he drew back slowly, he smiled at Merlin, then turned back and resumed walking towards the woods. Merlin followed, unable to think of anything to say, especially as he still wasn't completely awake and the whole situation seemed too surreal and strange for words anyway.

They arrived at the entrance of the woods, and the air was getting colder and damper now. Merlin wished he was back in his warm bed, not out here with this crazy guy. But he tramped after him into the bushes even so. They walked for a little while further, and then Arthur stopped in the clearing.

"This is the spot."

Merlin gazed at his handsome master, a faint blush warming his cheeks as he remembered Arthur's lips against his. "Why are we here?" He asked for the tenth time, sighing.

"My father has been getting reports of people encountering a mysterious figure here at night. He wanted me to make sure it wasn't anything suspicious," Arthur said, sounding so much like the efficient prince so determined to please his father and be a good king, the man who was arrogant but brave. Was it really the same man who had smiled at Merlin like that just moments before?

Merlin yawned. "Maybe, maybe it's a ghost," he said playfully, moving over to sit on a large rock, and huddling up to keep himself warm.

"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin."

"Oh, so, you don't believe in ghosts then? You've seen magic, griffins, sidhe, but oh no, ghosts? There's no way they could exist."

Arthur was silent, and Merlin said, before thinking about it – "Are you afraid of ghosts?" Arthur was still silent, so Merlin pressed on. "Is that why…you wanted me to come with you?"

Suddenly Arthur stuck out his hand, gesturing for Merlin to be silent. Initially Merlin obeyed without thinking, but he was just about to open his mouth and say that he was tired of this and he wanted to know why Arthur had dragged him out to the forest in the middle of the night, when he felt a chill, as if the air had suddenly gotten colder, and mistier. Slowly, he stood up, as Arthur stepped backwards until he was by Merlin's side.

"What do you think it is?" Merlin said in a low voice.

"I'm not sure. It could be magic…but…I've never seen anything like this before…"

"Hello, Prince Pendragon."

The two men twisted around to the voice coming from behind them. Before them stood a beautiful woman, with cream white skin contrasted by dark hair and a deep crimson dress. She wore gold jewelry and a gold band around her forehead. Water seemed to be dripping off her dress and hair, and Merlin wondered to himself if she had just been bathing, though it seemed an odd thing to do in the middle of the night.

Impressing Merlin once again, Arthur assumed his authoritative voice and said – "How do you know who I am?"

"I can see you have the air and manners of a man who is to rule a great kingdom," she replied graciously. "My name is Lynette." She turned to Merlin, a smile sweetening her features. "Ah, I can sense you are one of the Old Religion."

Where are you from, my lady? Why are you in the forest so late at night, unaccompanied? It is dangerous," Arthur said.

"We can take you back to Camelot, and find you a place to stay," Merlin offered, finally finding his tongue. There was something about this woman that unnerved him, but he wasn't sure what.

"No, my place is here," she said. "But I thank you for your trouble. Blessed be." With that, she turned, and walked off around behind the trees.

"Wait!" Arthur set off after her, then returned a minute later, a very puzzled look on his face. "She's gone," he said.

The next morning, Arthur told his father of the mysterious woman, and was granted his request to send a search party into the woods in an attempt to find her. Morgana was impressed by his chivalry in the matter.

"What did she say her name was?"

"Lynette," Arthur replied. "And she recognized me, even though we've never met before, it was quite odd."

"The weird part was that she wouldn't leave the woods," Merlin interjected, earning him a glare from Arthur.

"Don't you have some stables to be mucking out, Merlin?" He turned back to Morgana. "I'd assume she was distressed, but there was no physical sign of it."

"Well, if she doesn't want to be found, there's nothing more you can do, Arthur."

Still, Arthur found himself preoccupied by it for the rest of the day, until Uther sent for him.

"There has been no sign of this girl, Arthur. I had the records checked, and there is no record of a Lynette in Camelot, except for one who died 15 years ago."

"Well, I'm sure it could not be her father. But how did this girl die?"

"She drowned, I'm afraid."

Arthur nodded, and was silent for a moment. "Thank you father. I'll call off the search party now." But as he left the room, he knew he couldn't stop now, and went to examine further records himself. Finally, in one dusty book, he found record of a Lynette who had accidentally drowned during a Pagan ritual. Knowing he was close now, he turned to books about Pagan rituals.

"Water rituals often performed at night, under a full moon…"

Then he saw a picture in the book of a pentagram, just like one he had seen on some of the gold jewelry Lynette had been wearing. His blood ran cold.

"Blessed be," a ghostly voice whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters.**

**Story: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I'd do it now since it's half term next week so I'll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story based on a Halloween themed word and will vary from scary to silly. Enjoy!**

FULL MOON

Guinevere tossed and turned restlessly on her bed, but to no avail, she could not sleep. Instead she lay awake, gazing at the full moon shining against the black night sky of Camelot. A pulse ran through that she could not describe, an animal primal desire.

Her closed eyes snapped open, and she bolted up on her bed as her door opened. Her heart began to pound – was it a thief? Or something worse?

She saw Lancelot stood there in his nightclothes. Was she dreaming? He was bathed in moonlight, it seemed to make him look stronger, his muscular toned chest outlined by his loose white shirt. Dark eyes, dark hair – he was certainly as handsome as she remembered.

"Lancelot?"

"Guinevere," he said, stepping over to where she was sat in her bed, the covers still pulled up to her waist, before she had a chance to get out. He sat down in front of her, and smiled. "I could not stop thinking about you, I had to see you."

Guinevere opened her mouth to speak but then Lancelot leaned in and kissed her, and moved forward so that they would be in a more horizontal position. She tried to fight back, but then Lancelot bit her neck. At first it was just pain, then as he began to drink some of her blood, a state of arousal washed through her body, and she pressed herself up against him.

"Make love to me, Lancelot," she murmured. She saw his smile, revealing two small pointed fangs, then he began to undress her.

Soon both were naked, and with the moonlight shining down on their skin, they moved, caught in an act as old as time. Guinevere was so preoccupied, trembling under Lancelot's sensuous kisses being lavished all over her body that she didn't notice his red eyes…


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters.**

**Story: As Halloween is approaching I had to write a Halloween themed fic and thought I'd do it now since it's half term next week so I'll have no internet access. Each chapter will have a short separate story based on a Halloween themed word and will vary from scary to silly. Enjoy!**

FEAR

A storm raged in Camelot that night, so loud and fearsome that it made Morgana's nightmares worse, and when she screamed herself awake, not only did Guinevere come running, but Arthur and Merlin who were passing by near her chambers, heard the scream, and went up, concerned, to see if she was alright.

It was Arthur who had acknowledged that it didn't seem likely any of them were going to sleep that night, and so had kindly accepted Morgana's offer to stay in her chambers that night. His concern for her was evident – her normally pale skin was still ghost white from the shock, and dark circles rested under her eyes.

"Merlin, you sit with Morgana, while I find some fruit," he commanded his servant.

"I'll help you," Guinevere said, and they made their way down towards the palace kitchens, where Arthur searched for fruit which Guinevere proceeded to wash. He folded his arms, and sighed. "Is she always this bad, Guinevere?"

"I'm afraid so, my lord," she nodded, placing an apple in a bowl. "I think the night has become her worst enemy, with the nightmares it brings her. But she never complains of it."

They made their way back towards her chambers, Arthur leading the way. But he stopped when he heard a gasp from Guinevere, and whirled round, to see her stood frozen still, with her eyes wide and afraid.

"Guinevere? What is it?"

She was silent a few moments, trying to recover her breath, then produced a shaky but sheepish smile. "It's nothing my lord, I…I must have imagined it."

He stepped towards her; put a hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me, Guinevere," he said softly.

"Well, I…I thought I felt a hand grab my arm, here," she said, gesturing to her arm just beneath her elbow. "It was icy cold."

"It could be magic," Arthur said, reaching for his sword then realizing he didn't have it with him. Guinevere was silent, thinking that he sounded like his father in that moment.

"I'm sure it's nothing, my lord. I feel fine now."

Arthur insisted that they look in the area for anyone suspicious, but there was no one, so they continued back to Morgana's chambers, where they found Merlin and Morgana sat on the bed, locked in an intimate conversation, which they broke off. Guinevere noticed that Morgana had more colour back in her cheeks, but said nothing, and offered them some fruit.

"Merlin here has been helping me," Morgana said conversationally. "I have a silly fear of lightning," she smiled, biting into an apple. Merlin returned the smile awkwardly.

"It's no trouble," he said.

Another crack of lightning made them all jump, even Arthur, Merlin noticed, trying to suppress a smile.

"You know, this weather is perfect for telling ghost stories," he smirked.

"I don't know, I don't want my lady to have any more nightmares," Guinevere said, biting her lip as she glanced over at Morgana.

"Oh no, I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight. We need to do something to pass the time," Morgana smiled amiably, taking another bite of the apple. Merlin couldn't help thinking to himself that she looked like Eve holding the apple, she was certainly beautiful enough. Then he thought to himself that he wanted to be Adam...if she was Eve...

"Merlin!"

"Ah!" Merlin jumped, jolted out of his thoughts, and the fruit went flying.

"It looks like Merlin's already getting into the spirit of it," Morgana smiled.

"Mmm," Arthur agreed grudgingly. "Merlin, you idiot, pick up the fruit!"

"Well, Arthur," Morgana smiled smoothly, rising to his challenge, as Guinevere went to help Merlin to recover the various pieces of fruit. "Why don't you go first, if you're so keen?" She cocked her head innocently to one side.

"Very well, Morgana. I'll try not to scare you too much, though I suppose you could always cling to Merlin," he added, unable to help himself. Merlin suddenly became very interested in the banana he was picking up off the floor.

"Well, my story," Arthur began leisurely, "is about a knight in Camelot. His name, was Sir Geldor, and he was a dedicated and talented knight, respected by everyone. He won the jousting tournament every year, and soon became a trophy to Camelot. But of course, there were people who were jealous of his talent, and the attention people gave him," he continued, his voice taking a darker tone of its own accord. "And one day, another knight from a kingdom Camelot was at odds with, entered Camelot, and challenged Sir Geldor to a fight. To the death."

The way Arthur was telling this story gave Merlin the impression that it was one Arthur's father had told him many times, and he leaned in closer, curious as to where this was going.

"Of course, Sir Geldor accepted, against the advice of everyone around him, including his own wife, who had just borne him a child. But Sir Geldor believed it to be a fair fight, and thought he could win if he trained hard enough. But what no one knew about this knight was that he was a sorcerer. At the very moment when he had the chance, he used an enchantment to slow Sir Geldor down, and killed him."

Now Arthur had everyone's complete attention.

"So, Sir Geldor's wife was distraught. My father went to see her, and told her if there was anything she needed he would provide it for her. She said to him," Arthur said, and then his voice took on a tone that sent shivers down Merlin's spine. "_Thank you, but I already know what I need to do_. They found her the next morning, and her baby, dead, in the same spot where her husband had died. There's still some blood there today that has never washed away."

There was silence for a few moments as the story lingered with them, until Morgana broke it.

"Hey, where's Merlin?"

They all looked around and realised he wasn't there. "Maybe the ghost of Sir Geldor got him," Guinevere joked feebly.

Suddenly, the door opened, and all three jumped.

"Merlin told me you all might like some hot chocolate."

"Gaius," Morgana, Guinevere and Arthur smiled, all visibly relieved.

"I was thinking, if you guys want a real horror story, perhaps I could tell you about some of Arthur's socks I've had to wash..." Merlin teased.

**So that's it folks! Happy Halloween! Xxx**


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